Getting drunk on peace – Samsara Festival

Samsara Festival is the happy medium for hippies – the organizers are intent on attracting those to Siófok who love the psychedelic festival atmosphere, in the best sense of the word, but don’t want trance music pounding in their heads day and night. Love, peace and unity – where the chill stage is the main stage – a festival slogan that means more than a line-up dominated by world-renowned performers of the genre. It also indicates that daytime and night-time events will have equal emphasis, making these 4-5 days in July truly complete.

To Töreki we go

Töreki was chosen to host the event after a good friend of the organizers saw a video of a surprise party in Sweden that was decorated to look like a teeny-tiny Woodstock. He asked the designers of the party whether they could recreate the same atmosphere on his 30-hectare property by Lake Balaton, and the answer was: “Why not?”

“The basic concept was definitely inspired by a dissatisfaction with the lack of real connections and genuine social experiences. We wanted to counterbalance fake performances and the existence in the virtual world with something real,” said Csaba Czinkóczky, who dreamed up Samsara together with Gabriella Berecz. Their aim was to create a festival they could use to convey the hippy lifestyle through high-quality and environmentally conscious events.

Apart from Woodstock and Burning Man, the concept of the festival was influenced by an enthusiasm for “inspired people” – sympathy for those who don’t act or perform, but rather completely give themselves over to a particular activity or the experience of observation.

“The word psychedelic means an altered state of consciousness, and it’s a shame that most people nowadays use it exclusively in connection with drugs,” says Csaba, adding that the music line-up and the exercise-related events of the festival have all been chosen to ensure that, compared to other goa festivals in Hungary and abroad, the use of such methods to reach a different state of mind is reduced.

In terms of visual design, nature will take centre stage, of course: from the preliminary images and teasers it looks like the organizers are creating a venue with an exceptional vibe on the 30-hectare plot. Every detail is kept very much under wraps, so all we can refer to to guess what the landscape is going to be like are the images used for inspiration that have been shared on Facebook:

A global village with star performers

Yoga and chill music are the main trigger words of Samsara Festival. Even though a total of four stages will be set up, the most popular and influential performers will attract music lover to the “chill main stage”.

Yoga will not be sidelined: the list of instructors featured at the festival will surely resonate with lots of people who believe in quite nights and early mornings on the mat – and who knows, the festival might be the perfect place for them to fall in love with chill music too. Yoga teachers will come from India, Australia and the US, to mention but a few locations, with Govinda Kai, Laruga Glaser, Eyel Chehanowski and Christian Wigardt being some of the guests invited to the Yoga Village.

No need to worry: crazy trance parties won’t interfere with the rhythm of your breathing or sliding from one asana to another, as the party venue has been placed at a decent 1.5-km distance from all other festival locations. Also, the different times of day will be reflected in the event selection.

A little, self-contained universe

The Tripoteca Psychedelic Film and Art Festival will take place on the first two days of Samsara (2-3 July), so those who like to hang out in the psychedelic-magic circle will get the chance to watch short films, animated clips and video installations.

The chief organizers have been assisted by about 25 people in the past year to make the festival happen. 3,000 visitors are expected to show up to the 4+1-day event, with the venue being able to accommodate a maximum of 4,500 festivalgoers. Apart from local performers, therapists, instructors and service providers, Hungary will also be represented by MÜSZI: they’ll make sure that the kids are busy making toys from recycled materials while mum and dad are occupied elsewhere, dancing, learning, doing yoga or being contemplative.

It currently looks like the proportion of Hungarian participants will be about 17%, which also suggests that the choice of venue is perfect especially because guests from abroad who wish to stay a bit longer have countless holiday opportunities just a stone’s throw away. If you can’t wait to be among the ranks of the world peace promoting festival audience, and you couldn’t agree more with the live and let live philosophy, you should get your tickets now because people from all over the world are snatching them up as we speak.